VietNamNet Bridge – The brick-making machine was stuck, Mr. Hung poked it with a stick. A big explosion occurred, killing Hung and injuring two others. The authorities said that the explosion might have been caused by a shrapnel bomb.

On October 9, a day after his fellow died in the explosion, Mr. Truong Ngoc Thin, 21, from Hoang Hoa district, Thanh Hoa province, said at about 2.30pm, when he was about to go to the kiln, Thin suddenly heard a big bang from the brick oven, which is about 100 meters from his room.

"Smoke and dust rose highly upward. I rushed to the brick kiln and saw a number of people lying on the ground," Thin recalled.

According to Thin, when people came, they saw Truong Phu Hung, 27, with a lot of wounds on his arms, face and chest, caused by many pieces of metal. Due to bleeding, Hung died right then.

Thin said Hung was just married and had a one year old son. He had worked at the brick kiln for about two weeks when the accident occurred. Like Hung, Thin and other workers at this brick kiln come from the countryside and are very young.



On October 9, the local authorities continued to blockade the site for investigation. Mr. Nguyen Duc Thanh, Chairman of Phu Dong commune, Gia Lam district, Hanoi, where the accident occurred, said the land where the explosion happened belongs to the Quyet Chien JS Company.

Colonel Dang Van Vuong, chief police officer of Gia Lam district, said, according to initial verification, the explosion might be caused by a fragmentation bomb which was in the soil that was used to make bricks.

"Hung, Tu and Sau were putting soil into the brick-making machine when the machine was jammed. Hung poked it by a stick. A big bang occurred, killing Hung on the spot and injuring Tu and Sau," the district police chief said.

Currently, the brick kiln is closed for investigation.

Le Ha